There's historically been a separation between businesses that sell directly to end customers ("business to consumer," or B2C) like Best Buy or Wal*Mart, and businesses that sell primarily to other businesses ("business to business," or B2B) like IBM or a large automotive component supplier.
The question: with social media, where people deal with other people and not an abstract "organization," does this change? (Chris Brogan has some thoughts here.)
What do you think? Are B2B and B2C outmoded terms as we all start to interact as "people?"
I’ve been thinking of it in terms of how the customers themselves self-identify. If they use the product or service exclusively or primarily at work, it’s B2B marketing; if they use it for personal reasons, it’s B2C.
I’m sure there will be some overlap, but I think specific elements of each marketing strategy will appeal to certain comfort levels according to those self-identifiers.
Many of the tools and modes are the same, but there are significant differences in terms of social scale.
Very large anonymous/psuedonymous communities of consumers behave differently, and require different moderation, filtering, noise-dampenening techniques than groups where there are a relatively small number of people, using their real names, acting with their professional reputations.
Let’s not forget that the second “B” in “B2B” is not an abstraction, but a collection of people. So social media can work very effectively for B2B. Just as we dress and act differently at work than we do at home, B2B social media will have a different “personality” than B2C.
The methodology to plan sound strategy to engage and promote long term profitable relationships is the same whether considering B2B or B2C. The tactics of how a promotional program takes shape, the offers, means of communication, and incentives do vary. One caveat, SMB owners behave like the company/the individual interchangeably and we have to take that into consideration. I think social media can work in a highly targeted and effective way for B2B applications.
Bill
I think of it in layers.
Consumers are people (they’re not really consumers — they’re people!). And people at work are people, too. So they have that core.
On the other hand, as consumers we have the additional role of “the guy who has personally shelled out the money,” “the guy who personally has to live with the consequences of the purchase decision,” and lots of things that can make us vulnerable and emotional.
Business buyers, users, and supporters are spending Other People’s Money, and they tend to have much more fragmented or specialized responsibility for their products. So they’re engaged emotionally, but differently so.
Still, we forget B2B relationships are made from people only at our peril. A colleague chided me recently for asking “did you feel respected” and “were you treated fairly” in a B2B customer survey instrument. What, like we leave our feelings when we take on a work role?
~dbk
So, why is it that when people look at the situation from the outside, they sometimes (often) forget the “we’re all people” fact?
I love this question, and I think the discussion is fantastic. My company, Jive Software, makes Social Business Software (SBS) and ends up selling to both B2B and B2C customers–so I get asked this type of thing a lot. As someone previously pointed out the underlying technology is not so different–initially. We’re seeing a pretty rapid departure in terms of is being desired in these different types of companies as they leverage their social media/social software strategies. I think the biggest distinction are driven from 2 different things:
1) In B2B the person you are engaging with is in a role and representing a larger entity as opposed to representing themselves. That relationship and connection needs to transcend the person.
2) B2B relationships seem (at least right now) to have much more demands for integration with other enterprise systems (CRM, ERP, CMS, ECM, SCM, etc) whereas consumer communities are much more brand and experience driven.
A few illustrating examples:
B2C:
Nike Plus: http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/ An incredible example of allowing your customers to engage with each other first and your brand second, but VERY experience driven. Result is incredible adoption of Nike products by community members who had no relationship initially.
CNN iReport: http://www.ireport.com Again, a very smart strategy for engaging with consumers of your product and also producing tremendous value at the same time (in this case additional content.) CNN uses achieves incredible loyalty from their viewers by converting them into reporters.
B2B:
VMWorld: http://www.vmworld.com A really smart site that has caused a dramatic increase in engagement between VMWare and its customers. Slightly more information driven interaction. The connection is still very people centric, but you can see the different approach in building community.
Cisco Learning Network: http://cisco.hosted.jivesoftware.com A community build around partner education and engagement. Again, very much a people connection, but very different environment and with more value placed on content relevant to the job.
Yes, either way you are dealing with people, but the approach to the dealing can be completely different. Although there is overlap of the two categories, especially with smaller businesses, I think there will still be a different feel to the interaction with regard to the two categories.
I have worked in sales for both B2B and B2C companies and can tell you that there is a tremendous difference in the approach used to sell to clients.
First and foremost, while B2C is primarily product focused, B2B is all about relationship management. While you are dealing with people in both cases, these people have completely different mind sets and think differently about products and services.
Also, while many B2C transactions tend to be based on impulse, most B2B transactions are well thought out and rational.
Having said that, I think B2C and B2C are not outdated terms.
In this day in age, the approach to B2C has probably evolved a lot more than the approach to B2B. B2C marketers realize that most consumers shop compulsively, so they try to market and advertise at every corner (search ads, banners, newspapers, radio, etc.). B2B buyers on the other hand take their time to research and analyze their best alternative.